Oily moisture filling breather box

[patricke1971]

Iam getting allot of oiley moisture filling my breather box from vented
Valve covers..it's dripping allot..what can I do to fix this? The engine is a 2334.. how can I vent the case better? I use an electric fuel pump, can I vent the fuel pump block off?

[Glenn]

Take the car for a 30 minute drive on the interstate/ Too many short drives and it doesn't get hot enough to boil off the condensation in the engine.

Do the fan shroud have flaps and a thermostat?
_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

Member #1009

#BlueSquare

עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי

[oprn]

Like Glen says, your engine is running too cold. It has nothing to do with your breather setup and everything to do with low oil and overall engine temperature.

Have you seen all the photos of engine cases that have rotted out sumps on this site? Don't create another one!
_________________
Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[patricke1971]

How would I correct this problem?

[Dale M.]

[oprn]

You start by having all the stock tins in place and the thermostat and flaps. Even that and a long trip is not enough given the wrong weather conditions.

We just completed an 11 hour in one day trip at 58 to 63*F weather in the rain. The oil temperature stayed between 158 and 178*F the whole trip even with the thermostat in place. I expect the rain washing over the valve covers and sump kept it down there. When we got home the breather box cover and the draught tube were full of milky foam. That is 11 hours ALL at highway speeds! On a 70*F summer day the oil temperature normally runs around 210 to 220*F after 20 minutes on the highway normally with no sign of moisture in the breather ever.

After that trip I considered dumping the oil (it was a fresh oil change) and putting it in a pot on the stove to boil the water out but we took another short 2 hour highway trip the next day under better conditions and all the foamy crap was gone.

If you live in a cooler climate and especially where the humidity is high that oil needs to be hot enough for long enough to keep the moisture under control. If not you better be changing it real often.
_________________
Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[Fender38]

[Schepp]

If all you ever do is drive short trips around town. This problem will never go away. Unless during those short trips you drive it hard a few times to get those temps up.

Do you have an oil temp gage? While there are mixed opinions on where to put the sending unit. Overall it would give you a better sense of where its at vs guessing.

There are other temp gage options if a permanent dash gage isn't your thing. Like a dipstick gage.

I keep a cheapo thermometer gun in the glovebox. So I can point it at different areas of the engine and see what its doing. If you have an oil filter installed you can point a thermometer gun at the filter and see the oil temp that way.

https://www.harborfreight.com/121-infrared-laser-thermometer-63985.html

[mikedjames]

If you spend all your time proudly driving around at 180F or less, the water builds up in the oil. leaving these oily mayonnaise style deposits around the place.
And these water/oil emulsions are acidic and will eat away at parts of the engine.


Ideally, you need to get the oil hot enough to trigger a dipstick "save my bug" thermometer regularly.

Maybe simplify the breather system to reduce the number of cool corners where it builds up may be another solution.
_________________
Ancient vehicles and vessels

1974 VW T2 : Devon Eurovette camper with 1641 DP T1 engine, Progressive carb, full flow oil cooler, EDIS crank timed ignition.
Engine 1: 40k miles (rocker shaft clip fell off), Engine 2: 30k miles (rebuild, dropped valve). Engine 3: a JK Preservation Parts "new" engine, aluminium case: 26k miles: new top end.
Gearbox rebuild 2021 by Bears.

1979 Westerly GK24 24 foot racer/cruiser yacht Forethought of Gosport.
1973 wooden Pacer sailing dinghy